Kennedy Wins on Last Play

Watching his team score nine points in the final 17 seconds left Kennedy High Coach Bob Francola in an understandably effusive mood. About the only comment Francola could manage was a slightly rhetorical question.

“Was that worth the price of admission or what?” he shouted.

Kicker Jason Rosen nailed a 35-yard field goal with no time left to give Kennedy a 39-36 win over Crenshaw in a nonconference game Thursday night at Kennedy High.

Trailing, 36-30, Kennedy (1-2) took possession with 4:08 to play. Sparked by tailback Ontiwaun Carter--who gained 267 yards in 40 carries and scored four touchdowns--the Golden Cougars drove to the Crenshaw 25-yard line.

With 17 seconds left, Kennedy quarterback Tony Vazquez lobbed a touchdown pass to Rosen, who beat a pair of Crenshaw defenders on the play. Rosen had lined up on the wrong side of the field prior to the snap and was waved over to the right side of the formation by Vazquez.

Rosen’s extra-point attempt, however, was blocked. Francola elected to try an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff rather than squib the ball downfield.

“Hell, yes, we used the onside kick,” Francola said. “We played to win, not tie, this game.”

Frank Conley recovered Rosen’s onside kick at the Crenshaw 48. Crenshaw Coach Robert Garrett was flagged for two consecutive unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, which moved the ball to the Crenshaw 18 and set the stage for Rosen’s kick. Garrett argued that Crenshaw had recovered the onside kick and that Conley had taken it away after the whistle blew.

Carter and Kennedy were nearly upstaged by Crenshaw running back Kevin Hicks, who gained 229 yards in 22 carries and scored on runs of 47 and three yards.

And it was Hicks’ lone mistake of the game that almost won it for Crenshaw (2-1). On a first-and-10 play at the Crenshaw 49, Hicks fumbled, but the ball was picked up on the dead run by fullback Charles Brown, who raced 51 yards down the right sideline to give Crenshaw a 36-30 lead with 4:11 left. Quarterback Derrick Williams fumbled the snap on Crenshaw’s two-point conversion attempt.

Crenshaw led, 30-22, at the end of the third quarter, but Kennedy tied the score with 11:16 to play on a nine-yard run up the middle by Carter and a two-point conversion run by Carter.

In the first quarter, Carter looked like he was going to single-handedly put the game out of reach. The junior tailback gained 102 yards in 14 carries and scored on runs of nine and 14 yards.

A power outage in the second quarter might have cost Carter the school single-game rushing record of 279 yards, held by Edwin Jones. Carter scored on a 22-yard run with 9:23 left in the first half, but the field lights went out after Carter broke through the line. The run was disallowed.